Engineered Parts
Some people invented new game mechanics that are made of existing parts and have new functions. These Engineered Multiblock parts have various usages such as longer landing legs, closeable fairings and even engines that don't need fuel. ---- Docking Port Engine The docking port engine, (also called reactionless engine, reactionless drive, ftl drive, and Acarii drive), is any structure that exploits docking port's attractive properties to create acceleration without use of fuel or power. Discovered by user Acarii on April 2nd, 2018, it is the first major form of free acceleration capable of getting to LEO from Earth's surface entirely under its own power. Types of drive: The type of drive varies based on how its constructed, but is broken down into two groups. 'Permafire', and 'Toggle' drives. Permafire drives are called such as they can not be turned off once started without physically destroying or jettisoning the drive entirely, rendering it useless. Toggle drives (pictured, right) on the other hand have systems installed that allow the drive to be toggled on and off as desired, hence the name. Typically, toggle drives are weaker than their permafire counterparts due to the added mass and sometimes interacting docking ports required to make the drive toggable, although depending on payload and drive design, this is not always the case. How do drives work? Drives work utilizing a bug in docking ports that multiplies the expected force of the controlled craft. This extra force is not correctly accounted for in the game engine, allowing the craft to push others out of the way. The force added by docking ports is framerate dependent, and not applied every frame, unlike other parts of physics. This is likely a performance saving measure, and results in the drives being heavily framerate dependent, the amount of acceleration will drastically shift based on the system it is run on. Drives work optimally when the game is set to 60 fps on a system that can maintain this framerate indefinitely. More information about drives and how they work can be found Here. Docking Without DLC Before 1.4 There are various strategies for people not having the DLCs before 1.4 to dock their craft. It should be noted though that these docks do not work in time warp. Most designs use Landing Leg or Solar Panels as they were the only moveable parts at the time. The first known design was created by Space Core. It makes use of the shape of both the capsule part and the extended landing leg to hold two crafts together. Other ways of docking without DLC are solar panel docking, where the fast opening and closing of two solar panels facing each other causes them to glitch into one another and to maintain that position. Probably the easiest way is a one-directional hook. On the craft with the engine, place an upside-down landing leg on the side. On the other craft, place a landing leg facing upwards on the other side of the craft. Extend both landing legs and put the landing legs in between the other landing leg and the main craft. Engineer: Space Core Version: 1 With the release of 1.4, free small docking ports are know given to the player in exchange for advertisements if they do not have the Full Version. Fuelless RCS Ship As for version 1.3.5, there is a bug that allows RCS Thrusters to work without a source of fuel when a Solar Panel is attached. The ship has endless power to reach any destination. The ship listed here performed a landing on Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Phobos and Deimos, then conducted a Fixed Point Landing to the Moon base and on Earth at the Launchpad. The ship was built by Ana Imfinity, which named it Ana Electric or AE. However, it is possible that other players discovered this glitch which allows ships to travel forever, so she does not claim an official name for her discovery. She only posts it here, so that other players can use this technology for their missions. It is not needed to purchase the paid extension to build such a ship. However, in versions older then 1.3.5, this might not work. Basics The ship needs at least one Solar Panel, at least one fuel tank (the smallest one is sufficent), a Probe or a Capsule and many RCS Thrusters. Or, one can add Batteries, Rover Wheels, Landing Legs or a Parachute. The entire construction must be linked together by Structural Parts. The smallest probe which can leave Earth has 6 RCS thrusters, one small fuel tank, one probe and one solar panel. Open the solar panel and turn on the RCS thrusters. After all fuel is exhausted, the thrusters will keep operating. Drive the ship to any destination you want. Notes The AE ship performs different then other, conventional ships. Both in physics view and in map view, the player must use the RCS buttons (or the keys I, J, K and L, if you are using the PC version), which allows the engine to fire only in four directions. The orbits you get are not as precise as with other engines. Structural parts are light and while passing the atmosphere they generate a lot of friction. Because of this, a Venus landing requires no parachute. On the other hand, a liftoff from Venus requires a lot of time. The RCS thrusters produce little power, so they cannot lift heavy payloads. Also, they will exhaust any type of fuel. This method cannot be used to take into orbit fuel tanks, unless the RCS powered ships are pushing other ships that are not docked (see Helping Vehicle for details). Category:Parts Category:Gallery